On the threshold of time

(Poster of the Exhibition)

Habitation in a metropolitan like New Delhi provides thematic content to many artists for their works. It’s a spacious field which gives many areas to explore as impact of growing urbanization causes sapidity and straining both. This is one can sensate a prevalent concern of the works presently showcasing under the title ‘On the threshold of time’ at Art Heritage Gallery, Triveni Kala Sangam, Tansen Marg, New Delhi. Introducing young artists Aditi Aggarwal and Bharti Verma from College of Art, New Delhi, the show is on view from April 29 to June 9, 2012.

Both the artists are neighboring each other at certain points than soon they segregate their concerns. Aditi Aggarwal has been quite experimental as she has not diminished her language into a specific style. Her styles and approach toward working provides different perspectives to watch but still they have imbibed the identity of the artist and her process of working. Her semi-abstract canvases shows the process of replete enjoyment which artist would have definitely experienced while painting, as she revels in evolving forms using multiple layers of thick impasto in acrylic color. It can be channelized to create harmonies of color, rhythm and texture which are charged of energetic repetition. These semi-abstract works says of Aditi’s sub-consciously created ‘mindscapes’ which sometime reaches at the verge of ‘consciousness’ and ‘figuration’ also.

Aditi Aggarwal, ‘Untitled’
Acrylic on canvas, 4ft x 4ft, 2012 

Aditi Aggarwal, ‘Mindscape-1’ 
Acrylic on canvas, 4ft x 5ft, 2012 

Aditi Aggarwal, ‘Mindscape-2’ 
Acrylic on canvas, 4ft x 4ft, 2012 

Aditi seems quite conscious of compositional tenets and aesthetic merits of her works while doing acrylics on canvas, which most often gives perspective of a ‘Google map’ view of a metropolitan city. Her city depicts the joyous life yet vacuumed space has seen created as color palette suggests comprising bright, dull and dark hues of colors. These ‘untitled’ small canvases includes circular, squarish and rectangular shaped forms; at times gives stance of some machinery fixing of bolts and tools placed on flat board, which one can decipher as a inside structure of some mechanical device or could be relate to a urbanized city as both functions on a mechanical and well-designed pattern/process.

Aditi Aggarwal, ‘Untitled’ 
Acrylic on canvas, 8 x 8, 2012 

Aditi Aggarwal, ‘Untitled’ 
Acrylic on canvas, 11 x 11, 2012 

Aditi Aggarwal, ‘Untitled’ 
Acrylic on canvas, 12.5 x 12, 2012 

Apart from this deliberated approach of using forms and creating compositions she feels freer while working on paper with ink and water color. On few canvases titled ‘Daily Encounter’ she traces her own journeys and has pasted bus tickets on canvas. These mix-media canvas reveals her intention of breaking the limits of two-dimensional surface. She has also experimented with sculptures.

Aditi Aggarwal, 'Untitled'
ink & water color on paper, 12.5 x 9.5, 2009 

Aditi Aggarwal, ‘Encounter’, 
Mixed media on paper, 8.1 x 5.9, 2009 

Bharti Verma is more specific about her concern of dealing with urban space of a ‘globalized’ era and its existence within a ‘localized’ location. In her oils on canvas Bharti tries to bring the notions of emptiness and seclusion creating intramural scenes of human dwelling places but devoid of human presence. These empty cubes like spaces are filled with murky and squalid environment, painted in monochromatic shades of blue, brown and black and sudden appearance of color like blue, yellow, brown and red says perhaps of an inner ray of hope. This appearance of color also creates a visual interest in composition as same she creates via using some different/real object or material in her few other canvases and in pen drawings on canvas.

Bharti Verma, ‘Uncertainty’ 
Oil on canvas with fiber glass, 72 x 48 

Bharti Verma, ‘Mystify’, Oil on canvas, 18 x 60

Bharti Verma, ‘Conjugation’ 
Pen on canvas, 48 x 72

Though the lack of privacy experienced in cramped dwelling places, despite a sense of loneliness is seen in somber cityscapes, which is like providing various perspectives to watch through different windows.  These windows/doors are providing a wall-opening view and seeing them gives a feel of an invitation to viewer for entering into them, suppose they wants to fulfill their emptiness and loneliness by presence of viewers. These mystic characters of the city led artist to depict melancholic atmosphere of a metropolitan which tells the story of presence and absence in a single moment. Bharti has also experimented with mediums and with surface of canvas as she puts a water tap onto canvas where she entitles her city as a ‘flux city’ and uses a convex mirror into meticulous pen drawing on canvas titled ‘visual essence’ and string up a small hand stitched dress onto a clothes dryer cord facing a whole perspective of a city.

Bharti Verma, ‘Vision through window’ 
Oil on canvas with wood, 18 x 18 x 2.5 

Bharti Verma, ‘Flux City’ 
Oil on canvas with Tap & ware, 36 x 48 

Bharti Verma, ‘Visual Essence’ 
Pen on canvas with convex mirror, 36 x 48 

Bharti Verma, ‘My Enigmatic World’ 
Pen on Canvas & cloth, 36 

As an overall and combined effort both the artists Aditi Aggarwal and Bharti Verma have given form to their experiences of a metropolitan city, to which many of among us could connect ourselves. both have played out with different approaches of working as one enjoy her instant process of working, depicting energetic forms in bright colors and other enjoys her meticulous process and feeling relived from depressing dilemma of city life by expressing it through the works!!

Image Courtesy: Art Heritage Gallery